Drew Sharp: Michigan State can be a very good team again next season

Mar. 30, 2013

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Gary Harris #14 of the Michigan State Spartans walks on court with his head down past head coach Tom Izzo in the second half against the Duke Blue Devils during the Midwest Region Semifinal round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 29, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana. / Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Missed opportunities are always met with some measure of regret. Tom Izzo's most talented team since the 2009 national championship finalist never came close to reaching its ceiling.

Every time it reached high for it, it would pop a shoulder, wrench a back or twist a knee.

Blue Cross could've been this team's presenting sponsor.

"I couldn't remember one point during this season when it seemed like we didn't have at least a couple guys badly banged up or sick or something," said departing senior Derrick Nix. "We overcame a lot to get where we did. But we couldn't take it a little further."

Keith Appling kidded recently that the last time he was completely healthy was in Germany, where the Spartans began their season in a game at a military base.

"It feels bad and disappointing that we couldn't go as far as we wanted to," Appling said following the Spartans' tournament-concluding loss to Duke. "It's going to hurt. Anytime you lose, it's going to hurt. But we think that we can be a very good team again next season."

Soon after the curtain came down on the 2012-13 season, thoughts turned to what might occur in the ensuing weeks that will impact next season.

The most important immediate decision isn't whether Adreian Payne returns for his senior season, but does freshman guard Gary Harris need surgery on the injured shoulder that pretty much bothered him all season, along with severe back spasms.

Harris insisted that rest and rehabilitation were the only necessary treatments, but Izzo left the door ajar to the possibility of an operation. He said he'll discuss it with Harris, his parents and the medical team. But if the decision is made that surgery is the best option, Izzo would want it done as soon as possible so that Harris could begin off-season training as quickly as possible.

Izzo doesn't want to get caught as in past summers, hoping that physical rehabilitation works only to realize six weeks later that surgery is the only recourse and the extended recovery time could remove that player from those all-important off-season informal workouts among the players.

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"As much as you want to hold off the start of the off-season for as long as possible," Izzo said, "it is probably the most important time of a player's development because that's when they make the strides in confidence and execution that you wind up seeing in the games the following season."

Branden Dawson didn't have that development last summer, still recovering from major knee surgery.

"Nobody's really seen the Gary Harris that I saw when I recruited him," Izzo said, "because of the thing with the shoulder and his back. He's a guy who attacks the offensive glass and drives strong to the rim."

Nobody ever saw the real Delvon Roe who was a top-10 recruit five years ago, but never regained the explosiveness taken from numerous knee injuries.

If Payne returns, the Spartans should once again be a serious Final Four contender with a healthy Dawson and Harris both getting their first off-season.

Does Payne return for his senior season?

"I don't want to think about that right now," he told reporters following the game. "It's not respectful to Derrick Nix who just played his last game to talk about that right now."

Payne should return, but those are the selfish wailings of a man who thinks improving the quality of the junior and senior classes can only improve the overall quality of college basketball. But such sentiment conflicts with the business reality of the NBA. If Payne's certain that he'll be a first-round draft choice this June, he should leave.

The potential's there for another special Michigan State season if everybody comes back -- especially if everybody can stay reasonably healthy, for a change.